By: Anna Palfreeman
I sit down to write this blog in the midst of the advent season. Advent is a relatively new part of my Christmas tradition. As a child, we didn’t have an advent calendar. As an adult, however, it’s become my children’s favorite part of Christmas. My daughter Cassidy recently told me that she liked advent more than Christmas morning and it got me thinking. Why would she like the season of waiting more than the day of presents, treats, and family? What is it about waiting that increases our joy?
Easter also has a waiting period before it called Lent. Lent is a time to deny yourself regular pleasures in order to enter into Jesus’s sufferings. It reorients our values and desires and draws our eyes up to Him. Since I’ve started observing Lent, I’ve noticed that my appreciation and thankfulness for Easter has significantly grown.
Similarly, Advent is a period of waiting before Christmas, but the waiting is different than it is in Lent. Advent builds anticipation. It’s meant to get your hopes up. He’s coming! He’s here to save the world! I don’t know about you, but I struggle with getting my hopes up. As a kid, I often felt disappointed on Christmas. The anticipation felt like it led to a letdown after opening presents and feeling like the gifts didn’t live up to my expectations. Which, of course, is correct. Material possessions can never fill the deep longing in our hearts for joy, satisfaction, love, and fullness.
Advent is getting your hopes up about the One who can fulfill them. Eternal God didn’t stay separated from his people. He came down. He entered in. Emmanuel—God with us. Sin is still real. Grief is still heartbreaking. Death is still prevalent. But we’re not alone. He’s with us. And he will never leave us.
So get your hopes up. This Christmas season, I encourage you to lift your expectations up to the Heavens. Let the presents and food and family be a piece of your joy, but don’t let it be the end of it. Jesus is with you. You are not alone. Praise be to God.